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Chapter 278: Improvement

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

While the power in Lucien's blood was profoundly nurturing Lucien's soul, his skin started to get pale and dry, like an old mummy buried in a tomb for many years, or a dying poplar tree struggling in the desert.

Lucien's legs were trembling, his muscles became slack, and his heartbeat slowed down. However, his refreshed soul rose in the air and looked down at his withered body.

The creepy feeling came to Lucien so suddenly that it made him feel he was in the world of meditation.

When Lucien thought he was going to die when his Blessing power had been drained by the growth of his soul, some strange power penetrated into his body from Rhine's sharp teeth, and the great improvement in Lucien's soul immediately stopped. The remaining slight amount of Blessing power was stimulated by the strange power and thus started to rapidly recover in Lucien's veins.

The paleness of Lucien's skin gradually vanished, and his skin began to look tight and healthy again. There was an explosive power in his muscles, and although his heartbeat was still slow, it was steady and solid. As for Lucien's brain, now it worked even faster.

Rhine's let go of Lucien's neck, leaving a slight amount of numbing pain.

Rhine's body now looked a bit transparent, and there was tiredness in his silver-colored eyes, but his smile was still bright and elegant, "A distinguished gentleman is never stingy to pay."

Now Lucien could move his body again. After checking himself, he was surprised, "My soul… its power has reached the level equal to that of a fourth-circle sorcerer. My physical strength has reached the level of a level two knight… Are you alright, Mr. Rhine?"

Seeing that Rhine stumbled a bit and his huge wings started to shrink, Lucien hurriedly asked.

Rhine smiled, "There are many magic rites that can help people strengthen their soul and spiritual power. And ancient sorcerers just love doing this. But there are two problems: one is that very few sorcerers could afford these rites, and comparatively speaking, the cost of magic potions is much smaller. Therefore, sorcerers who really need these rites are those ones who either have a hard time improving themselves or must achieve a higher goal within a short period of time."

Knowing what Lucien was thinking, Rhine explained further, "The second problem is that these rites can leave side-effects, which are mostly from the materials consumed and used in the rites. People can also meet further obstacles because of their lack of understanding of magic. If the side-effects could not be eliminated soon, a sorcerer would need to rely more and more on similar magic rites, which might lead to one's twisted disposition. But you, Lucien, you have neither of the problems, because this is my pay for you in advance. What this rite just consumed was my Original Blood, and what nurtured your soul was your own Blessing power, so there is no side effects. Also, since your Blessing is Moonlight, it does not conflict with the power of a vampire."

Lucien listened to Rhine's words carefully and nodded.

"Although your physical strength has also been improved, since the further development of a knight depends on great willpower, unless you want to give up arcana and focus on becoming a knight, there's no way that you could become a grand knight. Of course, you can also do as what some of the sorcerers do to get strong but creepy physical body and longer lifespan… You know, this was why they started using human beings to develop different Blessings. For you, the winner of Holm Crown prize, magic and arcana knowledge should not be a problem at all."

Lucien was finally relieved. After a couple of weeks, when Lucien could handle the newly strengthened spiritual power better, he could try to hit the target of becoming a fourth circle sorcerer, which was two years earlier than expected.

"Mr. Rhine, when I become a senior-rank mage, I'll go and activate the devices you left. But, where are they?" Lucien asked.

Rhine pointed at Lucien's neck and said, "I left a mark on your neck, so I can cast my projection into your dream through it and talk to you. Of course, only under your permission. Also, you can reach me through the mark backwards as well."

Lucien quickly checked his neck using his spiritual power. Like Rhine said, there was an unnoticeable, crescent-shaped mark there, like a birthmark.

"I can tell you really don't want me to know too many details right now, Mr. Rhine." Lucien grinned.

"If you are really interested in knowing more, go to the Congress's Arcana Library and find those books about the history of the church. Read them carefully, and maybe you can find something interesting. The most shocking secret can be hidden in the most ordinary things." Rhine smiled. Then he put his right hand on his chest and excused himself, "After the rite, I'm too tired to maintain my projection. Now, I must go."

As soon as he finished the last sentence, Rhine's body turned into countless black bats, flying everywhere in the space. Then, they all disappeared.

The World of Souls went back to being the colorless and silent world again.

"It was just like pigeons flying up on the square, but they were bats." Lucien smiled and murmured, but no voice could be heard.

After looking around the hall, Lucien looked at Ivanovszki's body. He was a tough enemy, and his Blessing was indeed a big trouble to sorcerers. Were it not for Lucien's many powerful magic items and the fact that they were of the same level, Lucien would be the one who needed to run for his life.

Lucien got really lucky when Ivanovszki lowered his guard after he entered the World of Souls. After all, it was not an easy thing to kill a Saint Knight who was fast and agile.

Ivanovszki's whole set of armor had been completely damaged, so Lucien could only pick some pieces. Maybe they could be used as alchemical materials in the future.

Ivanovszki did not have any rings, necklaces, amulets or belts, because of his special Blessing. He only had a heavy sword and a pair of silver-gray gloves:

"A divine heavy sword built for cleansing sorcerers—Cleanser: level three high rank heavy sword (requires both hands). Before senior-rank, user's magic defence can be improved by one level. Every time when the target is hit, the physical attack is doubled by the holy power attached."

"One can only rely on power!—Ogre Glove: level five middle rank. User's power can be improved to the level of an ogre leader, which is equal to that of a level five grand knight."

Although both of the items were more of less damaged by the toxic gas, Lucien was confident that he could fix them.

Putting the two items in his magic pouch, he decided to give Leo the sword and keep the gloves to himself.

Lucien also searched Ivanovszki's clothes and tried to see whether there was more that he could find about Ivanovszki, but the effort was in vain. Ivanovszki was very careful. Except for a small money bag, Lucien found nothing.

After dealing with the body, Lucien stared at the black-and-white castle hall and his mind started wandering—who was the person behind Ivanovszki? Did the person know anything about this world? Were any other wise creatures here? … What were the secrets of gods? What was the immortal side of the world? A world whose physics and chemistry were so similar to what Lucien had learned on Earth…

…

In the material world, Dry Vine Castle.

"Cardinal Nevskiy, sorry for troubling you and the night watchers…" said Count Witte, brimming with energy and vitality, "Please get Nikonov."

Having lots of strange magic items and spells, Nikonov managed to escape when Count Witte was distracted with killing Carleena.

Since Nikonov could tell that Count Witte was only overusing his body to get back to the peak time of his power temporarily, if he could make this fight last longer, quite possibly, he would be able to kill the count. However, the church had received the message at that time, so he had to withdraw immediately.

Wearing a red robe, the cardinal looked upright and kind. His blue eyes sincerely looked at the count and said, "I'm very sorry for my mistake, Count Witte. I did not find what was hiding behind your disease… the curse."

"Now that they dare do so, they must be very confident with hiding the curse. It's not your fault, Cardinal." The count smiled, and then he switched the topic, "By the way, Cardinal, I've sent my will about my heritage to His Majesty using my own secret way safely. I'm His Majesty's knight, and I believe that there is no better way than let His Majesty select my inheritor."

Nevskiy nodded and smiled, "Proper decision, Count Witte. His Majesty must know your will and select the best inheritor for you. I'm sure the selected one will be as outstanding as you. Well, I gotta go back to the church now."

"Walk Cardinal Nevskiy out," said the count to a knight standing beside him.

Watching Cardinal Nevskiy walking out of the hall, the count suddenly took a few steps backwards from the great sense of tiredness. At the same time, a sneer appeared on his face.

When the red-robed cardinal left the castle with several pastors and bishops, in the light of dawn, Nevskiy looked up and started to cross in front of his chest with his right hand.

The vertical was shorter and the horizontal was longer.

Chapter 279: The Red Robe

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

In the World of Souls, Lucien stopped the many thoughts in his mind and was about to find a room in the projection of the castle to take a rest. He planned to meet Leo later at the place they previously agreed, when this whole thing settled down.

According to Lucien's estimation, this would take three to four days. Leo and he had agreed on meeting each other a week later, so he had plenty of time. He could use this time learning how to control his newly-grown spiritual power.

Lucien felt lucky for not meeting any undead creatures here. The deeper one went, the more dangerous this space was. Lucien was only a middle-rank mage right now, and he knew his own limit.

When Lucien was going to step on the stairs, the castle started shaking fiercely, like a boat in the ocean meeting a great storm.

Then, the castle was torn into countless pieces of shadow. A second later, the shadow all disappeared.

This whole thing happened too fast. Lucien did not manage to cast any spells to protect himself. All of a sudden, he was exposed to the wild, and he could feel the sense of death from this world.

He was confused.

At this time, the white tear-shaped mark on Lucien's left hand refreshed him like a breeze. The breeze comforted Lucien greatly in the dreadful surroundings.

Lucien's was cheered up, feeling lucky for having the young girl's blessing wish. At the same time, he looked around and realized that he was on the west side of the mine of Ural. He silently murmured to himself, "This should be the real reflection of the material world…"

According to Lucien's knowledge of the World of Souls, unintelligent things in the material world, like a building, could be mistakenly reflected there. For example, a building in the west of a city could appear in the north in this creepy world. However, the mistake usually would not go beyond a certain range, say, within a city or a village. Still, the fact that Lucien entered the gap entrance in the mine but directly arrived at Dry Vine castle was out of his expectation. After all, they were quite far from each other.

Now, after witnessing what just happened to the castle, Lucien realized that it was Rhine's power that dragged the projection of the castle there. After Rhine left, the world recovered itself.

Actually, it was also a good thing. Lucien did not have to worry that the others might have the evidence that he killed Ivanovszki.

"But wait!!"

An idea suddenly struck Lucien and he immediately ran toward the gap exit close to him.

If Ivanovszki knew the existence of the World of Souls and the entrance, what about those who worked for or cooperated with him, say, the senior-rank mage, Nikonov? Did he know how to get into this world? If Nikonov also chose to hide in the World of Souls and saw the evidence of the fight between Lucien and Ivanovszki, he would definitely know that their enemy was also here! The secret of this world could have been revealed!

To all the people on Ivanovszki and Nikonov's side, and to the person pulling the strings behind them, the fact that someone else knew the existence of the World of Souls could be even more threatening than the fact that their plan toward the count had failed. If they found out about this, they would spare no effort on killing Lucien by searching around the entrance very carefully, and probably setting up some sensing traps.

If Lucien wanted to find another exit, he would need to go deeper in the World of Souls. And, very possibly, he would meet some horrible undead creatures!

Therefore, Lucien must take the risk and eliminate all the evidence at the bottom of the mine, and then find another place to hide.

Before going back, Lucien carefully sensed the other side of the gap with his Sun's Corona. Making sure that there was no one around there, Lucien activated Powerful Fire Shield, which was his last chance of using this spell today, and came back to the bottom of the mine again through the heavy "curtains" in the gap.

There was no wind here, so the toxic cloud was still around. Rocks, bugs and mice were being corroded.

After casting Dissipate Smoke easily using his stronger spiritual power for a few times, there was finally no toxic gas in the air. Then, Lucien started to deal with the bodies of the dead bugs and mice, as well as the damaged stones, making sure that no one could tell that once there was a bitter fight here, in a very organized way.

After less than ten minutes, Lucien's work was almost done. If one did not check around carefully, it would be very hard to notice. And as time went by, there was no way that one could tell any evidences here, except if he or she directly used the ninth-circle spell, Retrospective Sight.

After carefully checking around again, Lucien cast Invisibility and was ready to leave the place.

However, when he just took a few steps, all of a sudden, Lucien sensed that Nikonov had arrived there, as expected!

Maybe it was because Nikonov did not expect anyone to be there, or he was too confident, but Lucien was lucky to find it out in time, and thus had enough time to hide.

Lucien quickly restrained his spiritual power field and looked around. He knew that he could not hide in a corner like he did the last time. Nikonov was a senior-rank mage!

A senior-rank mage's spiritual power field was solid and very powerful, which could sense every single creature in the space. In the narrow pit, only the fourth-circle spell, Greater Invisibility, could hide the caster properly.

Therefore, decisively, Lucien entered the World of Souls again.

…

Black, white and gray. The bushes and trees were like concrete. Lucien ran fast on the open field, with dim shadows following him. His destination was the plain, because he had a greater chance to meet undead creatures down there.

This time, Lucien did not avoid the undead creatures, but tried to find them on purpose. He used the crystal ball and Maskelyne's Star at the same time. When the light balls and the stars hit each other and burst out shining pieces, Lucien's luck was improved.

Lucien did not believe in fate. This time he wanted to take the initiative and try his best to survive here! Even if he was doomed to die here, Lucien still wanted to fight for himself till the last second.

In this chaotic world, Lucien arrived at the plains in a very short time. There, he saw groups of ghouls. The way they looked—their rotten flesh and hanging pieces of skin—, in Lucien's eyes, was quite familiar.

And this time, Lucien felt lucky that he found the ghouls.

Smelling the air, the ghouls found Lucien—a live creature! Immediately, they became agitated and crazy. They were coming for Lucien!

At this time, Lucien silently cast a spell, and his smell suddenly changed. His body was shrouded by a dense smell of death, and his flesh started rotting. Soon, Lucien changed himself into a disgusting ghoul!

The unique second-circle spell from the Congress, the Undead Transformation!

The spell was invented based on two ancient spells: Death Cover and Undead Disguise.

The brainless ghouls felt very confused. After looking around, they accepted the fact that, all of a sudden, they had got a new friend.

The leader of the ghouls released a silent howling, asking Lucien to join the line.

Soon after Lucien joined this group of ghouls and wandered around, he saw a figure flying in the gray sky. The man was wearing a black magic robe. He was Nikonov.

Apparently, Nikonov was not interested in the ghouls at all. He did not even take an extra look at them, not to mention using his spiritual power to scan them carefully.

Lucien was quite nervous when he was walking among the real ghouls. After making sure that Nikonov had really left, he released a long sigh in his mind.

It seemed that Nikonov never expected his enemy to be here at all.

Just in case, Lucien kept wandering with the ghouls for a while. A little later, a figure wearing a black loose rob drawn with lots of complicated patterns flew across the sky. The aura that the figure had was one of absolute death!

The figure also directly ignored the ghouls, that could be found everywhere in this world.

Based on the direction, Lucien wondered if this figure was chasing Nikonov. He was not sure whether the figure was an intelligent undead creature or not.

After a while, Lucien started to get bored. When he was just about to leave and find the exit gap, he saw another figure flying across the sky again.

This time, Lucien was greatly shocked, because the figure was wearing the robe that was only meant for the cardinals!

Although Lucien could not tell the real color of the robe, he was completely sure that the style and shape was exactly the same!

Chapter 280: Lucien's Finding

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Lucien stared at the sky like a real ghoul, and he murmured to himself in his mind out of confusion, "Is the red-robed cardinal from the North or the South Church? Why is he here? Is he chasing after Nikonov?"

The main divergence between the North and the South Church was their different understandings of some doctrines and prayers. The North Church especially doubted the status of the pope as "the Speaker of God on the Land of Truth". Therefore, after the secession, the North Church referred to the pope as pontiff, and a pontiff should not enjoy the lofty status of being respected as the spokesperson of God, but only a leader of the grand cardinals. Through the grand cardinals, a pontiff could lead the church. And that was it.

Therefore, in order to prove their own legitimacy, the hierarchy of the two churches still followed the tradition: the grand cardinals, then red-robed cardinals, then bishops and then pastors. Furthermore, the religious clothes they wore and their symbol—the cross—were basically the same.

As soon as Lucien had these questions in his mind, he mocked himself silently, "Come on, Lucien, are you muddled from the fight? The cardinal came in through the gap at the bottom of the mine, so he must be from the north!"

At the same time, Lucien also realized who that person was, since there was only one single cardinal who had this power and might know about the existence of this world—the level seven red-robed cardinal, Nevskiy…

One might have this thought that the person could also be some red-robed cardinal from the south who had secretly arrived in Ural because of some important task. However, it would be almost impossible to see a like that cardinal just carelessly wearing his own cardinal robe and flying around, considering how much the North and the South Church hated each other.

Then, Lucien's mind was filled with many new thoughts. He wondered how the cardinal knew about the existence of this world—did he learn this a long time ago? Or did he find the place when he was chasing after Nikonov? Lucien hoped the answer was the latter, but if it was the former, the cardinal's relationship with Nikonov could be quite complicated. After all, the secret of the World of Souls was not as easy to get as cabbages sold on the market.

Also, Lucien wanted to know what kind of undead creature was that thing which just flew across the sky some time ago.

The secret of the World of Souls was like its own existence, as both of them were covered in a thick cluster of fog.

Lucien decided to leave the place later, because the cradinal might come back at any time, and he might have left some complicated traps around the exit to make sure that no one was following him. If Lucien hurriedly left this place, he would put himself under great risk. Also, there might be more senior-rank people coming.

Patience was always a good thing in most cases.

Waving his arms, Lucien wandered on the wild land aimlessly just like the many ghouls. Pretending that he was seeking dead bodies, Lucien was waiting for the cardinal to come back.

At the same time, Lucien was reading the books about the history of the Church that he had collected so far, trying to find what happened before and after the secession.

Facing the secession, both the South Church and the North Church were trying to glorify themselves and bring shame on the other by destroying all the history records that were not on their side. Lucien was slightly amused by the fact that both sides had totally different comments on the same thing or the same person. For example, according to the South Church, the pope Gregory I was merciful and devout, while the first pontiff Ivan, was pictured corrupted and greedy as a big liar.

However, according to the North Church, Ivan, the first pontiff, was the one completely devout to the God. In order to prevent the world from being deceived by the pope, Ivan bravely stood out and chose to fight. Meanwhile, they denounced Gregory I, the pope who led the Saint Truth to the period of great prosperity, as the primary defiler, who kept stealing the glory of God, and should be purified first of all.

Although the Congress of Magic collected and saved the copy of lots of history records from that time and tried to stay neutral when understanding the history, there was nothing special or really valuable in the plain records, except the scandals of some important people from the church.

Part of the book Lucien was reading recorded the grand opening of the Highest Theology Conference, "…On that day, God stared at the Holy City. The four Saints—Ivan, Aleksey, Uriel, and Felix—and the seven Saint Cardinals including Sotte, Alester, and Siricius, stood in the holy light and denounced Gregory as the avatar of the Lord of Hell…"

The Saint was a holy title in the Saint Truth, following the Speaker of God, and the Saints were regarded as the archangels sent by God to the mundane. Although the title did not necessarily represent one's power, they were closely connected together. Pastors or cardinals could upgrade more asily under this title. Therefore, in most cases, they were the most powerful ones in the Church, following right after the Pope.

When reading this record, Lucien frowned. "Mr. Rhine said I could find something interesting, but I've found nothing here. There were some interesting anecdotes, but they're not what I'm looking for…"

Having nothing else safe to do, Lucien continued reading the books.

After a while, the red-robed cardinal flew back through the sky. Ignoring the ghouls on the ground, he directly left here through the gap. However, neither Nikonov nor the senior-rank creature showed up. The world then became dull and dreadful again.

When reading a book called The Saint Ivan, Lucien saw the cardinal flying across the sky. He wondered what happened, and maybe it was time for him to leave the place now.

Lucien had to leave this place, to avoid meeting other grand cardinals in case the cardinal decided to bring them to this place. Meanwhile, he also did not want to rush before making sure the red-robed cardinal had really left the place. The proper timing was very important here.

When Lucien closed the book, The Saint Ivan, he took a glance at the sentence on one of the pages, "… so the Saint Ivan accepted the command and headed toward the land under Wilfred's control. They needed to purify this extremely vicious and horrible sorcerer…"

A strange idea struck Lucien's mind suddenly, like a flash of lightning.

"Wilfred… the Great Master of Paleness… Wasn't he the legendary necromancer who once worked with Maskelyne and his partners?"

Lucien got this information from Hunt's notebook. Meanwhile, Lucien also saw this name, Wilfred, many times in other books that he had read. Unlike Maskelyne, Viken and the other three legendary archmages who got lost or were trapped in the World of Souls in the end, Wilfred died in the encirclement of the several grand cardinals.

Maybe due to some reasons, Wilfred did not manage to join the team exploring the deep secret of the World of Souls… That was Lucien's guess. At the same time, he quickly searched the Church's record of the important encirclement.

To his surprise, which also concerned Lucien a bit, the search results were mostly from the North Church and the Congress, while the South Church chose to be very brief on this historical event, without even mentioning the leader, the Saint Ivan.

"The six grand cardinals—Ivan, Aleksey, Nicon, Uriel, Geno, Felix—launched a surprise attack on Wilfred's Demiplanes Magic Tower. In this bitter fight, the six grand cardinals killed the necromancer and destroyed his life box… Nicon was killed by Wilfred."

Lucien repeated the names in his mind, and he felt that the tip of the horrible secret had been revealed…

Nicon was killed by Wilfred… but what about Geno?

Searching the materials quickly, Lucien saw the last record of this grand cardinal, "During the fight against the vicious necromancer Wilfred, the Grand Cardinal Geno, was severely injured the last second before Wilfred died. Geno's soul was entangled by the power of death. Seven years later, Geno died in Lance, the Holy City."

The book was left open on the spirit library table. Lucien was lost in his thoughts…

After a while, Lucien realized what the most important thing was right now. He forced himself to calm down and secretly left the ghoul team, running toward the exit gap.

After scanned and sensed the whole place using Sun's Corona, Lucien passed through the heavy and cold "curtains" in the gap and came back to the material world. Quickly, he left the mine pit and hid in the mountain range.

…

One week later, beside a pond deep in the Ural mountain range.

Leo secretly popped out from the bushes and checked the surroundings very carefully, making sure no one was following him.

Some unnoticeable marks were left beside the pond, guiding Leo to go somewhere else.

Leo followed the signs, and the location for them to meet was changed a few times. Finally, Leo heard the gentle voice, "Leo, is the Church and the empire still searching for us?"

Leo quickly turned around and saw Lucien standing on a giant pine tree with a heavy sword in his hands.

"Yes, they still are. We might have a few tough days going to Duchy of Violet through the forests…" Leo's voice suddenly trembled, then he asked in an unbelievable way, "My lord… This heavy sword is…?"

Translator's Thoughts

Kris_Liu Kris_Liu

Hi ladies and gentlemen, I've got a few words to say to you,

1. Thank you all so much for supporting TMA. I know we're being quite slow recently as we're waiting for our editor to fully recover. He's a great editor and the one who make sure the quality of the translated novel. We won't give up TMA and we'll try our very best to present you with an even greater adventure in the close future.

2. Here I also want to clarify one setting here: In order to be short, I chose to use "cardinal" to refer to "red-robed cardinal". As you may have noticed, in this chapter, I specified the concept to show the difference between a cardinal/red-robed cardinal and a grand cardinal. A grand cardinal is much more powerful then a (red-robed) cardinal.

Many thanks! In the next chapter, Lucien's going back home, Aalto!

Chapter 281: The Missed Music Festival

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Although the heavy sword in Lucien's hands did not look fancy, the design of it was solemn and sacred. However, the look and the value was not the reason that made Leo's body slightly shake and his voice tremble.

"That's right. The sword's called Cleanser, and its last owner was Ivanovszki. I killed him." Lucien nodded. When he said this, there was a calm smile on his face.

Lucien was not worried about the possibility of someone figuring out that he also knew about the existence of the World of Souls, after all, no one could tell that, instead of chasing after Lucien to kill him, Ivanovszki was actually running for his own life toward the mine pit.

Sneaky as a sorcerer could be, there was still chance that Lucien could end Ivanovszki's life using some kind of strange magic items or traps. Also, Nikonov did not find any evidence at the bottom of the mine pit, and neither did he find Ivanovszki in the World of Souls. Therefore, Lucien should be safe.

In addition, it was not easy for a middle-rank sorcerer to control a grand knight's will using spells, not to mention that Ivanovszki had the Blessing called Interference, who was very resistant to mental control. At least a ninth circle spell, such as Invade Brain, should be used if a senior rank mage wanted to get the information about the World of Souls from Ivanovszki, which was definitely the most significant piece of information, well protected by Ivanovszki's subconscious, or the target would soon wake up from the great sense of revolting.

From another perspective, those reasons above were also why the important people behind Ivanovszki would feel secure to tell him how to enter the World of Souls.

From comparing and contrasting the list of the saints who were against the pope over the Highest Theology Conference and the list of the grand cardinals who jointly killed Wilfred, the Great Master of Paleness, Lucien felt that he was already right in front of the great, shocking secret, and thus he had a better understanding of the great value of the World of Souls. Once the fact that he was also aware of the existence of the World of Souls was revealed, regardless of what others would do to him, Lucien was certain that the saints and the pontiff from the North Church would definitely kill him in person.

But why didn't the North Church hide the list, but made them available to almost everyone? Because they knew it well that there was a premise if one could really see the great secret existing between the two lists—one must be aware that, although Wilfred, the Master of Paleness, did not end up missing, he had a very close connection to the several missing legendary archmages. They did some secret experiment together, and he also knew the secret of immortality hidden in the World of Souls. However, those people who knew this much did not need the list to figure out what happened.

This was why the Congress of Magic, although having all the records from both the South and North Church, still got findings at all.

Although Lucien's answer was quite plain, Leo's eyes in his wrinkled face suddenly lost their focus. At this second, the purpose of his life had ended.

His hands were shaking fiercely. His lips slightly opened but his throat could not make a sound.

After more than five minutes, Leo forced a smile on his face and said, "Thanks, my lord… for taking the revenge… for me."

Lucien could tell the mixed emotions in Leo's voice. There was joy, regret, depression and confusion. And Lucien totally understood.

"The dead belongs to the past…" Lucien tried to comfort Leo, but was interrupted by him.

"Sorry, my lord. Please give me a few minutes."

Lucien nodded. Then Leo walked toward a huge rock on the side. Although he looked relatively calm, he almost fell over because of the tree root. He kept stumbling forward.

In front of the rock, Leo's knee suddenly dropped to the ground. Crossing in front of his chest, he kissed the dried moss on the rock, and murmured some names…

Lucien walked to the side to show his respect. Knights who grew up under the influence of the church always drew the cross in front of their chest when they felt emotional, no matter whether they believed in the God of Truth or not, and no matter whether they had any impious behavior. They drew the cross and pray, and it was a stamped habit left by their parents or families, not necessarily piety.

Lucien's mind wandered a bit. He was thinking of a new arcana research topic—the influence of one's early childhood experiences on one's behavior pattern.

After a few minutes, Leo slowly walked back. Feeling a bit tired, he said to Lucien, "My lord, let's set off right now. We gotta leave Ural as soon as possible. The night watchers and knights have been searching for us like crazy. Fortunately, I am quite familiar with this area, or I would not be able to meet you here, my lord…"

Although his heart was still filled with all mixed feelings, Leo reminded himself of his own duty.

Then, he took out a pair of boots embroidered with dark gold patterns, "My lord, these are the boots I found… from the sorcerer's body."

Sidestep, level three middle rank magic item. The boots could improve a sorcerer's agility to the level of a level three knight, and also provided the sorcerer two uses of third-circle spell Short Distance Teleportation a day.

After checking the boots carefully, then smiled, "Ok, we can go through the Ural mountains directly. I can handle the beasts and creatures in the mountains, and I also have Sorcerer's Cabin."

Pausing a bit, Lucien comforted Leo, "When we arrive in Aalto, Leo, try to stay there and do not come back again. You should think about your future life and probably have your offspring again. Take the sword, Leo. You'll need it in the mountains."

Hearing the word "offspring", Leo's face dimmed a bit. In this world, where Blessing, title, treasure and glory played the most important roles, one's offspring mattered a lot.

Leo took over Cleanser silently, as if he was lost in his own thoughts. After checking the sword carefully, Leo started walking in front of Lucien, with the heavy sword in his hand.

…

In the early evening of the Month of the End of Spring (April), 20th.

A coach from Tiran Province in the north arrived at Massawa town, which was only less-than-a day's travel away from Aalto.

Lucien, whose hair was blond and eyes were green, stepped out of the coach, followed by his butler, Leo. He walked into the familiar hotel and looked around.

Lucien left Aalto on April 9th in the year 816 of Saint Calendar and arrived in this small town. Now, after a whole three years, Lucien finally came back. He was a bit emotional, as everything in this place was triggering his memory. He was excited about going back "home".

After leaving Ural, Lucien and Leo travelled through the deep mountain range. Although they encountered beasts and other creatures many times, they handled them very well with Lucien's further-grown power as a fourth-circle sorcerer, so they arrived at the fortress in the north as planned.

However, because the north fortress had God's Glory and Snake the Chaos guarding the gate, Lucien and Leo had to climb over the great snow mountains to enter the Duchy of Violet, thus their trip had been delayed for almost a month.

Massawa was just a common town, so the hotel was not nearly as fancy. The hotel hall was its dining hall. People wearing different styles of clothes with different accents were eating and chatting in the heated atmosphere. Here, no noble manner was required.

"Compared to the music festival held three years ago, this year's Aalto music festival is… Umm… just so so, but… I mean, it's still a great feast of music. I've stayed here a week longer than I planned," said a wealthy middle-aged man wearing a silk shirt to the other guests sharing the table with him.

Hearing the man's words, Lucien suddenly realized that April was the month of Aalto Music Festival. Unfortunately, he had missed it. However, Lucien was also glad that Natasha should be free now. He wanted to reach her as soon as possible, or coming back to Aalto as the famous musician could bring him a lot of trouble from the Church.

As the winner of Holm Crown prize, Lucien was quite famous in the Congress of Magic. Lucien was very careful with disguising himself, as the Church might have found some clues connecting the great musician Lucien Evans to the genius sorcerer Lucien Evans X.

Lucien signalled to Leo with a glance. Leo nodded and walked to the middle-aged man and asked politely, "Excuse me sir, do you mind if we take these seats?"

Lucien hoped to get more information about his friends and what recently happened in Aalto. After he finished building in his soul his fifth fourth-circle spell, Professor's Infrasound Resonance, he would directly head for Aalto on the following day.

"No problem at all." The middle-aged man found Lucien young and elegant, so he nodded immediately. The other three guests also agreed.

Lucien sat down in front of the dining table and smiled, "Good to meet you all. I'm Michel, from Syracuse."

"I'm Glinton, a businessman traveling between the fortress of the Dark Mountain Range, Aalto and Tria." The middle-aged man made a brief self-introduction, followed by the two men and the lady.

Lucien put on a regretful look and sighed, "I tried my best to attend the music festival in Aalto, but still missed it… A lot of things happened during my trip. What a pity… Mr. Glinton, from what I heard from your words, it seems that you just came back from Aalto. Do you mind sharing with me some of what you've seen over the festival?"

"That's indeed a pity." Glinton nodded in an understanding way, "This year's music festival was not bad… Actually, I should say it was pretty good. However, you know… The festival held three years ago was too impressive to be compared… And this year's festival, without the presence of Mr. Christopher and Mr. Evans, appeared to be a bit plain and disappointing… But, of course, this year, Mr. Victor's playing in the Psalm Hall was still very stunning…"

Chapter 282: Come Back Home – Aalto

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Lucien was glad to hear the news about his music teacher, Victor. The fact that Victor held his concert in the Psalm Hall during the music festival showed that his music achievement had been acknowledged. With a pleasant smile, he asked, "Which piece did Mr. Victor play?"

Seeing that the young man was interested in this topic, Glinton also got excited and started to blatter, "Four pieces in total! All of them were fantastic! Personally, I like the last piece, Symphony No. 8 in C minor, the best, of which love is the theme, but it is also more than love! It's like an autobiography! Each chapter conveys different emotions and feelings one could have with love. Sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter… It reminded us of our own love stories! After Mr. Victor finished playing, people applauded sincerely. Love touched our hearts deeply…" As Glinton was saying, there was also a sweet smile on his face, and then he lowered his voice, "I heard that this music piece was written by Mr. Victor himself in memory of his dead wife, Winnie. It took him ten years to finish it. Symphony No. 8 in C minor's a piece of artwork. In my eyes, it is no inferior than Fate, the War of Dawn, Sonata Pathétique and Moonlight!"

Love and music was always a combination that most ladies could not resist. The only lady took out her handkerchief and gently tapped the corner of her eyes, saying regretfully, "We missed this music festival because of the absence of Mr. Christopher and Lucien Evans. What a mistake…"

Lucien knew well the love Victor always had toward his wife. He sincerely felt happy for Victor as he could put all his love and thoughts in music, which must be a great comfort for Victor.

Lucien's voice also became gentler, "Were there any new musicians on the music festival?"

Elena, Felicia, Pierre, Grace… He wondered how his classmates and friends were doing right now, and whether they were still pursuing their music dream.

"There was one, a female… named Louise. Her piano playing skill's really impressive and her music work has those kind of special feminine features. Also, she's a knight in training. She even has a beautiful white wolf as her pet!" said Glinton.

Lucien never heard this name. So, he took a sip at his lemonade and asked, "Anyone else?"

"Sure. Aalto Music Festival's always the heaven for young musicians." Glinton started listing the names as a way of showing off.

When Lucien almost lost his patience, he finally heard a familiar name.

"Mr. Victor's student, also, Mr. Lucien Evans' classmate, Felicia, also held her first concert over the festival. She played one symphony piece, one sonata piece and a couple of piano pieces that she wrote when she travelled through the continent. Also, she played Moonlight written by Mr. Evans to show her playing skills. I mean, although Miss. Felicia cannot yet be considered an outstanding musician, she's on her way and, as a noble lady musician, she's definitely very promising."

Lucien nodded slightly. He knew that Felicia must have worked very hard in the three years.

Over the meal, Lucien had a pretty good appetite because of his good mood. At this time, Glinton sighed, "Speaking of Moonlight… It's such a pity that we've never heard the great musician, Lucien Evans, playing Moonlight in person. Although the playing of his student, Miss Grace, was quite good, we're still looking forward to the great musician showing the real beauty of Moonlight…"

The lady sitting beside the table also nodded, "Mr. Evans' accomplishment in the field of piano playing is… incomparable. He created the brand new playing style as well as the foundation of fingering. I bet one person must have heard Mr. Lucien Evans playing Moonlight."

Lucien's face felt a bit hot when hearing all the compliments. He was also glad that Grace indeed followed his words and came to Aalto.

Another man laughed, "Of course, Her Majesty. It is said that the first movement of Moonlight was already written by the time Mr. Evans set off for his trip, and that he had played it in person in front of the princess."

People around the table laughed.

Lucien felt a bit embarrassed, so he cut off a small piece of steak and started chewing. Then, he asked in a casual way, "It's been three years since Mr. Evans left Aalto. When's he coming back?"

"Maybe in a year or two. No one knows except the princess." Glinton answered, "But the best thing's that he's still working on producing great music pieces… Moonlight, Storm… I really look forward to the day when he comes back."

It was more than normal that a musician could only produce one music piece within a year or so, not to mention the fact that Lucien Evans was still on his trip.

Hearing that, Lucien thought to himself that no matter whether the church had known that the great musician was in fact a vicious sorcerer, they had not told the public yet.

Lucien got no information about Elena, but it was not out of Lucien's expectation. After all, she just started learning music three years ago.

As for John, Joel and aunt Alisa, because they had nothing to do with the music festival, Lucien didn't dare to ask randomly.

…

The second day, the first orange light of morning had just appeared.

At this time, Lucien finished the complicated magic model in his soul with the last piece of arc.

Light covered the model and disappeared. When the model appeared again, it was already surrounding Lucien's Host Star of Destiny like many other magic models on the track.

It was Professor's Infrasound Resonance, that could harm or even kill an enemy using infrasound resonance. Its power was penetrating, which could go through most power or elemental shields. However, it would still fail in front of magic-immune or magic-reflection defensive shields.

If Lucien's spiritual power was enough, the spell could be used to affect senior-rank mages. However, currently, as a fourth-circle sorcerer, Lucien was not able to do so.

Looking at the thirty-six first circle spell models, twenty-eight second circle models, twenty third-circle models and five fourth-circle models, Lucien let out a sigh of relief.

It was the third time that Lucien tried to construct the model of Professor's Infrasound Resonance, and he finally succeeded, as the complexity of this spell model was already close to fifth circle. Fortunately, Lucien had a solid foundation of arcana knowledge.

Half an hour later, Leo knocked at Lucien's door.

After Lucien opened the door, Leo said to him respectfully, "It's time for breakfast, my Lord. Then we shall set off for Aalto."

"Alright." Lucien stood up and adjusted his clothes a bit. Taking a glance at the early morning sky, Lucien took a deep breath of the fresh air. Once again, he stayed awake for the whole night.

Because the Dark Mountain Range was very dangerous, Lucien had been working hard constructing the magic models. Therefore, he had analyzed and constructed five fourth-circle spells, including Professor's Infrasound Resonance, Douglas' Absorbing Wall, Douglas' Huge Palm, Arcana Light, Arcana Eye.

…

After breakfast, Lucien got on the coach and set off for Aalto.

On his way, he had mixed feelings. He missed Aalto, but he also had fear in his mind.

He knew that he could not directly go back to uncle Joel and aunt Alisa, or he might bring trouble to them. First, he should find Natasha to make sure he was safe.

In Aalto, Natasha was the only person to whom Lucien could safely reveal his identity, but soon he frowned—he had no idea how to find Natasha!

Natasha was the princess, the heir of the duchy. Although she was already a radiant knight, she must still have a lot of knights, guards and servants following her around the palace. As a nobody, Lucien basically had zero chance of randomly running into the princess.

Also, Lucien assumed that Natasha would not want to go to the Musicians' Association after Silvia died… Now he finally realized that if he had not chosen to study music, he would never had the chance to get to know Natasha—they were different people from different worlds.

Although Lucien did write the letter to Natasha telling her that he was coming back, Natasha still had no idea what the specific time would be and how Lucien would look when he came back.

Lucien did not have a really good plan right now. He decided to see whether he could know Natasha's common routine first, and then see if there were any chances that could be created.

In the afternoon, the tall city wall appeared in front of Lucien. Aalto still looked the same grand and prosperous.

"I'm back." Lucien murmured to himself.

Then, he got off the coach and got ready for the inspection for entering the city.

At this time, the crowd was divided into two sides on its own. A group of knights slowly went through the city gate, and the leading knight who was wearing black armor was a very beautiful young female. Her beauty was not the typical kind of female beauty, but the mix of femininity and heroism.

It was Natasha, the princess who had dream-like, purple-colored eyes. She looked like a flourishing violet.

"Natasha?!" Lucien was very surprised.

When the knights slowly went past the the crowd, Natasha suddenly turned her head around and looked at Lucien, who right now had blond hair and green eyes.

A stunning smile appeared on her face. She winked at Lucien quickly and then kept moving forward followed by the knights.

Lucien could not believe that the trouble that bothered him so much was solved just like this.

At time time, several people started talking to each other, "The princess is visiting the manor again?"

"Yeah… That's quite strange. After the princess finished her practice in the abbess, Her Majesty has been visiting the manor everyday in the afternoon, and coming back to Aalto the next morning…"

The corner of Lucien's lips moved. A smile appeared on his face.

Chapter 283: Welcome Back

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

In the early morning, in a fancy hotel in Nolan district.

Lucien had sent Leo to the room next door to sleep quite a while ago, and he also told Leo not to panic and just continue to sleep if he heard some weird noise from Lucien's room that night.

After running into Natasha, Lucien was sure that, as a princess and a radiant knight, as long as he did not hide himself on purpose from her, it would not be too big of a trouble for Natasha to find him in Aalto.

Holding a glass of red wine in his hand, Lucien sat cozily in the couch. He did not drink the wine, but just swirled it in the glass, staring at the red ripples. His mind was filled with thoughts and memories.

The wine, Berne, was produced in the chateau of Felicia's family. In most cases, only the family's guests could enjoy it. But this hotel was closely connected to the Hayne family, so the hotel was able to store a few bottles here and promote the wine as a main feature of the hotel.

Knock, knock… Someone knocked the window from outside.

Lucien smiled and turned around. Just as what he expected, Natasha, wearing a long purple dress, was standing on the balcony, followed by, as usual, Camil, in her black dress.

Natasha was indeed a radiant knight. Although Lucien was expecting her to visit tonight, he still failed to notice her arrival in advance.

Putting down the glass, Lucien walked to the window and opened it.

"Evening, Lucien," greeted Natasha casually. "Do you want to take a walk with me to enjoy the fantastic silver moon tonight?"

Lucien laughed, "Natasha, come on…"

A simple joke pulled them together as close as they used to be a few years ago.

Maybe due to the power of a radiant knight, Natasha still looked the same, twenty-something. However, maybe from her facial expression, or maybe her behavior, Lucien felt that she became much calmer and maturer.

"You haven't changed much…" said Lucien.

"You've become quite mature, like a real gentleman now…" said Natasha at the same time.

The two good friends looked at each other and laughed together.

"Good evening, Lady Camil." Lucien then nodded to Camil politely, who was following Natasha like a shadow all the time.

After seeing the power of Count Witte, Lucien knew how horrible Camil's power, the Blue Tide, could be.

Camil just nodded to be politely, but did not say anything. She was quiet all the time.

Taking a few steps forward with her long legs, Natasha sat down in the couch casually like she was in her own palace, War Gallery. She lifted her purple brow slightly and said, "Although this doesn't look bad, I prefer your original look. Black eyes and black hair… That works better for me."

"Why do you always treat me like a lady?" Lucien also joked. When he first arrived in this world, his look was already not bad. After the following years and after experiencing this much, Lucien had become more elegant and calm. His Blessing, Moonlight, also contributed to his appearance. However, of course, Lucien's appearance was nothing compared to Rhine and those who were already born good looking.

Natasha grinned and she said in a proud manner, "Since I left the abbey, I was expecting you to come back soon, or at least in two or three months. I was worried that you could not find me, so I estimated the possible time that a traveller from Tiran Province might arrive at Aalto and go through the city gate. So I have been visiting the manor outside of the city every day at the time I estimated to see if I could run into you. And also, it would be convenient for you to know this as part of my daily routine. But I directly sensed the familiarity in the air today, haha! See? My plan's perfect!"

She was obviously very proud.

"Yes, a perfect plan. On my way back, I was worrying about how I could find you…" Lucien told Natasha his concern honestly, and then he smiled. "Now, all problems have been solved by our smart, brilliant princess!"

Lucien now sat close to Natasha. He saw the dream-like color of Natasha's eyes, the mix of silver and purple. Her eyes were deep and attractive, like a swirl that could pull people in. After the three years in the abbey, she had got a very good control of her Blessing power.

Hearing the compliment, Natasha was quite satisfied. Then she started to ask Lucien to share more of his adventure in Allyn, Holm and other places with her.

Because Natasha knew about the collapse of the Magic Lock called Grand Cross, she was definitely aware of the existence of the World of Souls. However, she probably only regarded it as another dimension for the dead, like most other people who knew the World of Souls did. Therefore, Lucien only hid the important parts related to the ultimate secret of the World of Souls, and shared the rest of his adventure honestly with Natasha, bit by bit, either mentioned in the letters or not.

Natasha was a good listener. She knew when to listen and when to interact. Lucien was encouraged and their conversation did not finish until midnight.

At this time, Natasha put on a strange look and asked, "Haven't you been in any romantic relationships? Come on, Lucien… In Allyn, you don't have to hide anymore. What a pity!"

"Um… When I first arrived in Allyn, I had no idea what arcana was and I was… busy. Yup… Very busy… so no time for pursuing ladies…" said Lucien a bit embarrassedly. "Maybe… in the future…"

Natasha reached out her right hand and rubbed her chin. The strange look remained on her face, "That's not right… Girls in Allyn… They're even more beautiful than the girls here. You're the winner of Holm Crown prize, and you're good-looking, and powerful… So there's only one answer to this — you like men!?"

Natasha just let her imagination fly.

"That's impossible! I'm really, really busy! Like… super busy!" Lucien immediately denied, "I mean… I do have a few ladies trying to be close to me in Allyn, but I had no feeling toward them. I'm not that kind of person following every single lady he meets! I put quality before quantity!"

Natasha patted on Lucien's shoulder and said, "It's okay. I understand…"

"I'm not…" Lucien tried to clarify this, but he knew that probably Natasha had already had a whole touching love story developed in her mind.

Natasha laughed in a cunning way like a fox which successfully got a chick. Then, she quickly changed the topic, "Why some important sorcerer would ask you to send the letter to the Dark Mountain Range… It's such a waste of time, and, of course, it's dangerous. A legendary archmage could easily use stars as pedals doing space leaps, and get to the Dark Mountain Range from Allyn using a very short period of time…"

Natasha had a very close relationship with the grand arcanist Hathaway. Sometimes, she even knew more than Lucien.

"I'm not sure either. Maybe there are reasons… Say, Nightmare King refuses to see sorcerers above middle rank in order to avoid modern arcana theory impact…" Lucien guessed.

Natasha frowned, then she said, "It's hard to say. But don't worry, Lucien. I'm sure the Congress wouldn't send you, a promising young sorcerer, to die in the Dark Mountain Range. Also, no legendary archmage would go to this much trouble just to kill you… There's no reason."

Then she looked up at the clock and smiled, "It's almost five now! I forgot to welcome you officially, Lucien!"

So Natasha stood up and grinned, "Welcome back, my knight!"

Lucien also smiled and held Natasha's right hand. He gently left a kiss on Natasha's hand and said, "It's great to see you again, Your Majesty."

After becoming a radiant knight, her power became more internal, and her hands became softer.

Then, Natasha said to Lucien, "Did you forget to ask me anything, my knight?"

"Oh, right…" Lucien rubbed his forehead, "I was about to ask at the very beginning… Did the Church learned my identity as a sorcerer? How's John, Joel, Iven and Elena doing?"

Natasha made a surprised look and said, "Wow, that's a lot of information required… Where shall I start… Well, according to what I know, after you won the prize, your appearance, age and your power level have been recorded by the Church. However, the series of following experiments brought the Church to great impact and put them under a lot of pressure, so you haven't been put on the Cleansing List. Violet Duchy, for now, hasn't got any information about you."

She got to know Miller experiment from Lucien's letter. Natasha also felt very confused for a long time, but before the Church revised the theory, Natasha had calmed herself down and it seemed that she kept being the same devout.

Then, Natasha said to Lucien seriously, "I'm sorry, Lucien. I made a mistake."

"What?" Lucien was confused.

"The reason I suggested you to keep the identity as a musician was that I hoped you could have a proper excuse for traveling through the continent. I did not expect you to win such a prize this soon. Now, the identity as a musician has become your burden. So, find a chance, say, after a splendid concert… to let your musician identity die. It's better than telling people who care about you that you ended up missing during your trips…"

"I understand, Natasha. I'm okay with letting this identity die personally, but if I do so, uncle Joe, aunt Alisa, and John and Iven… They'd be very sad," said Lucien. "Also, in the future when I am included in the Cleansing List, the Church will still be able to link the sorcerer to the musician, which's still not a good thing to the family…"

"I did not say you must lie to your relatives, Lucien." Natasha smiled, "As you said, yes, sooner or later, the Church will find this out, and indeed the people you care would be brought into big trouble. I'd suggest that you directly tell your families the fact that you're a sorcerer and ask them to move to Holm with you. If they could accept both the fact and your invitation, that's the best result, but if they did not want to leave, I can watch them until you leave Aalto again. Later, I'll ask them to report this to the Church and make it look like they are cutting off with you. Under my help, I can assure you that they won't be affected that much because of you in the future if they decide to stay in Aalto."

When Natasha was talking, she was so calm that she looked just like a grand duchess.

"That's quite cruel…" sighed Lucien.

"You know… Sometimes cruelty can also be a kind of mercy," replied Natasha.

"You sound like a philosopher." Lucien tried to play a joke.

Natasha also slightly sighed and put on a bitter smile, "Every person who's lost their love is a philosopher."

Chapter 284: Mr. Evans Is Back!

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Lucien did not know what to say. He just wanted to play a joke, but the joke poked the softest and the most painful part of Natasha's heart. He wanted to comfort Natasha, but he did not know how.

Seeing Lucien's embarrassed look, Natasha bit her lips lightly and said, "It's okay, Lucien. No matter what happened, it's a part of me. I always try to appreciate it and learn my lesson out of it. That's my attitude. Don't worry, Lucien. I'll never blame you for saying something you never really mean to say."

"Well… If so, let me be honest, Natasha," said Lucien in a pretended serious way. "The only thing that I learn from memory and history is that… we can learn nothing."

Natasha first paused a second and then burst out laughing with Lucien. She was laughing so hard that she even could not keep her back straight like a knight, like a flourishing violet.

"Maybe what you said is true. Next time when I meet my love, I'll still give her all I have," said Natasha in a bit coarse voice from the good laugh. "I learn nothing."

"Good luck, Your Majesty. Hope you can meet a great lady and have a really good relationship soon," said Lucien sincerely.

"Soon?" Natasha lifted her good-looking brows and said, "Am I that kind of person who can just quickly forget her love and past? Come on… I'm not!"

Although she looked angry, Lucien could tell that Natasha now felt much better by letting out the sorrow that she could not share with other people.

"Umm… You're not that kind of person. Then, can I say you do not have much relationship experience yourself? You've been telling me that you can teach me, but now I highly doubt it." Lucien grinned.

"Better than yours." Natasha quickly talked back, "Also, let me remind you, if you didn't notice—I'm also a lady, and at least I've experienced a complete relationship. In front of you, I'm still qualified as a teacher to tell you how to pursue a girl. You haven't even touched a girl's hand!"

Lucien shrugged his shoulders, "Don't keep mentioning this…"

"Okay, another topic then. Your first kiss is still there, right?" Natasha put on a sneaky smile, "What a pity… Girls' lips are…"

"Hey… Don't act like a pervert, ok?" Lucien rolled his eyes.

Natasha clapped her hands and laughed, "Just admit it, Lucien, you innocent little boy. Admit that I've got enough to teach you about these things!"

"Okay, okay… You win." Lucien put up both of his hands.

The princess smirked, like a flower. Then she looked at Lucien and said in a gentle tone, "Thank you, Lucien."

"I'm your friend." Lucien nodded to Natasha, smiling.

"Good laugh always reminds me of the fact that losing love doesn't mean the end of my life," said Natasha. "I still have my father, my relatives, aunt Camil, and you, my friend. I can overcome this," said Natasha. "And then I'll introduce you to a good lady."

"Let me handle this on my own…" Lucien shook his head and smiled.

Natasha now got a bit more serious and started to tell Lucien how his family was doing, "After awakening his Blessing, John has become a knight and given the title as a Lord. Like his teacher, Venn, John serves my family, the Violet. Now he has his own land and a garden villa."

Lucien grinned. He truly felt happy for his friend.

"You uncle and aunt Alisa have been learning noble manners in these years to help John around and reach out to other nobles." Natasha continued, "Although they were often looked down upon by other nobles, for their son, they finally did it. Now your uncle Joel, known as 'the Eight-fingered Harpist', has gained some reputation among nobles. But I guess that, among the nobles, your uncle could only feel really happy when he plays music…"

"Good for them!" There was nothing better than seeing that all his relatives and friends were also striving for their better life like Lucien himself.

"As for Iven, he's grown quite a bit and he's a young man now. Iven's still under tough knight training. Felicia just held her very first concert in her life, and it was not bad. She's ready to start her career as a musician. Elena, after working hard on studying music for three years and fighting against her arranged marriage, now has been hired by a big band. So now she has her own career and does not need to rely on a man anymore…" Natasha smiled. "Pierre, after being quite depressed for two years, finally overcame the barrier and started to study the fingerings that were first developed by you. By combining the skills with the fingering of Harpsichord, he has found his own playing style. Your student, Grace, has been working hard all the time and is spoken highly by several musicians. Both Lott and Herodotus have also become good master instrumentalists…"

Lucien felt really touched in his mind, because he heard the news of his friends and family, and also because of the fact that, as a princess and the future Grand Duchess, Natasha kept collecting these nobodies' information just for Lucien.

"By the way, John isn't in Aalto now. According to the rules, new knights must join Violet Knights and guard the Dark Mountain Range Fortress or the North Fortress for five years, and then he'd be sent to other places according to the duchy's needs. He's at the Dark Mountain Range Fortress right now. If you can stay here longer, maybe he could come back during his vacation…"

As she was saying, Natasha stopped and looked at the gentle smile on Lucien's face, feeling a bit strange, "Lucien, why are you looking like me like this?"

"I really, really appreciate your help," Lucien said sincerely. "Thank you for collecting all these information for me."

Natasha grinned, "Of course. I'm the best!"

Their conversation lasted until dawn. When morning light slightly lit up the sky, Natasha stood up in an unwilling way and said, "I'm afraid I gotta go now."

Then she said to Lucien, "Your uncle and aunt should be out of town right now in John's manor, so you probably want to visit Mr. Christopher and Mr. Victor in the Musicians' Association first. Then, hold your concert as soon as possible, so you can say bye to your identity as a musician. Unfortunately, you don't have any new pieces of symphony of the same level of Fate, or your last concert would be definitely recorded by history, and you'd leave no regrets in your career as a musician. I mean… Moonlight and Storm are good. The concert's still going to be a great success. Don't worry."

"When I was traveling, I did have some thoughts on different styles of music, and I do have a few movements. But I'm not sure if I still have enough time to finish it…" sighed Lucien slightly.

Lucien used music to relax himself. By combining the different styles of music all over the world, Lucien developed quite a few movements on his own based on New World Symphony by Antonín Dvořák. Because Lucien was still far from being a real master musician, the symphony he wrote and New World Symphony were very much alike.

"Wow… Can't wait to hear it." Natasha looked excited, and her face was glowing. "Do you have any interests in religious music? I think a piece of music work praising God be good for you when the Church… Never mind, I was being stupid… You're a sorcerer with no belief."

Lucien grinned and shook his head. It seemed that Natasha was getting less serious about religion, or at least the Church.

Their conversation lasted a bit longer when it came to music. When the sun was rising, Natasha finally realized the time and said goodbye to Lucien.

When flying in the early morning sky, Camil looked at Natasha's right hand a bit confusedly and strangely.

"What is it?" asked Natasha. She saw no difference on her right hand.

"Nothing." Camil shook her head.

…

In front of the unique building of the Musicians' Association, Lucien, after shaving and removing the dyed color on his hair, was staring at it.

It felt a bit weird. This building looked familiar, but also strange. In this building, Lucien even still had his own exclusive lounge.

After Natasha left in the morning, Lucien told Leo that his mission had been finished. However, Leo wished to follow Lucien to Allyn and became his real butler. After carefully considering it, Lucien agreed. But he asked Leo to wait for him in Aalto first until he came back from the Dark Mountain Range. Lucien was not sure whether he could protect himself properly in the mountains, not to mention taking care of Leo.

Some passerby's laughter woke Lucien up from his thoughts. They were tourists who stayed a bit longer in Aalto after the music festival, hanging around the Musicians' Association casually to see if they could luckily meet the musicians they liked here.

After adjusting his jacket a bit, Lucien walked to the stairs. There were a few young musicians and instrumentalists standing there.

A guard took a step forward. When he just about to stop the young man, the guard quickly rubbed his eyes and his mouth opened big, "Mr. E… Evans… Good morning, Mr. Evans!"

His voice was loud. Several tourists turned around, and so did the young musicians and instrumentalists on the stairs.

After seeing clearly the face of the young man, the musicians and instrumentalists lowered their heads slightly and said in a respectful and excited manner, "Good morning, Mr. Evans. Welcome back!"

Chapter 285: Lucien, the Respected Musician

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The hall of the Musicians' Association was the same, grand but quiet. No matter where, the Musicians' Association was always the most quiet place among all the professional associations, as most musicians and instrumentalists were busy with all kinds of stuff—including training the bands, rehearsal, looking for music sheets in the library and so on. Therefore, very few of them would come to the association in the early morning.

Also, the Musicians' Association was supposed to be a quiet place to let the musicians stay focused on their music works.

The two young girls behind the reception desk looked sweet and nice. Right now, they were a bit nervously talking to Mr. Hank, who was responsible for the association's daily routine. Mr. Hank was introducing a beautiful young lady to them.

The young lady was about twenty something. She had impressive, long black hair and a pretty face. However, what attracted people's eyes more was the white, huge wolf sitting beside her, which looked quiet and intelligent.

"Ms. Louise, we'll ask other musicians whether they're interested in nature music, and if we find any, we'll tell you as soon as possible," said one the young gir whose name was Polly respectfully to the new musician.

Ms. Louise was the envy of many people who had music dreams, including the receptionist girls. She was born in a noble family and she showed her music talent at a very young age. With the heritage she got and the money she made by playing music, she bought the magic potion and awakened her Blessing, which pulled her closer to animals and nature. This strange Blessing also made her playing skills even better and unique, and therefore she made herself famous over this music festival.

But for Polly, the person who she really admired was Miss Elena. Miss Elena started as a receptionist just like them, but she turned herself into a instrumentalist by working hard and now she was making good money.

Louise smiled and said politely, "Thank you. Music theme that is inspired by mother nature is not common in Aalto. Even Mr. Hank has no idea whether we have musicians who've put some thoughts into it. It all relies on you two now. Please ask the musicians for me carefully. Thanks a lot."

At this time, a young, good-looking man wearing black suit and bow tie entered the hall through the stained glass door, followed by a few young musicians and instrumentalists.

Polly had been working there for a year, but she never met the young, good-looking man walking in the front. Meanwhile, she knew all of the several musicians and instrumentalists following him. Somehow, Polly felt the young man's face quite familiar.

Hank turned around. He first looked confused, and then a big smile appeared on his face, "Welcome back, Mr. Evans!"

"Mr. Evans?!" Polly and the other girl suddenly realized who this young man was. They saw Mr. Evans' brand new conducting skills and piano playing skills over the music festival in Aalto three years ago. The two girls were very young at that time, but they still remembered Mr. Evans' elegance and talent.

"Good morning, Mr. Hank." Lucien smiled and nodded. After the three years, Mr. Hank seemed even politer and more enthusiastic to him.

When Lucien walked to the reception desk, Polly and the other girl bowed to him excitedly and politely, "Good morning, Mr. Evans."

"Good morning, Mr. Evans," greeted Louise, also a bit excitedly.

Young girls in their age sort of spent their adolescence time with the company of Lucien's music. Therefore, their excitement could be imagined.

Lucien, keeping the polite smile on his face, looked at the white wolf whose ears were pointing upwards and said, "You must be Miss Louise. I've heard people talking about your music, and I also heard your music. Very nice…"

Lucien made the hotel band play some popular music works over the dinner last night. Of course, only those ones that did not require a whole symphony band to perform.

"Thank you, Mr. Evans. I still have much to learn." Louise's face flushed. For a young musician, a sentence of compliment from a great musician like Lucien meant a lot to her. It was for sure a great encouragement, and it could also contributed to her career development a lot.

After greeting around, Lucian asked Polly and the other girl, "Nice to meet you. May I know if my teacher, Mr. Victor, and Mr. Christopher are here today?"

After finishing his last concert, Christopher has become the association's honorary chairman.

"Yes, yes… Mr. Evans…" said Polly, a bit stammering. "Mr. Victor is the association's director now. He's always got a lot of things to do, especially after the music festival. He's been working in his office for a while. Mr. Christopher's also here. Recently, it seems that he has got some new music ideas."

Lucien slightly nodded. No wonder Natasha asked him to come to the association first. She must have known that, very possibly, Mr. Victor and Mr. Christopher were here.

Lucien also checked whether Felicia and Elena were here today, but the answers were no. So then Lucien walked toward Mr. Victor's office on the third floor under Hank's guidance.

On his way, a few musicians who Lucien knew from before all greeted him respectfully.

Before Lucien left Aalto, no matter how big an achievement Lucien made, for those musicians and instrumentalists who witnessed the poverty he suffered before, Lucien was always the poor boy who started with collecting rubbish and working in the library, but then the poor boy suddenly became an overnight "millionaire".

However, after those three years, Lucien's talent did not fall like most geniuses who only made an overnight hit for once. Instead, his new music works, especially Moonlight Sonata, which was known as the most touching piano piece, still received huge success.

The fact that Lucien had been away from Aalto for three years left people with a greater room for imagination. Therefore, when Lucien came back, people respected him as a real great musician, a significant figure in the world of music!

Polly and the other young girl watched Lucien and Hank walking away from behind. After their walked upstairs, Polly held her face with both of her hands and said to the other girl excitedly, "Mr. Evans's even more elegant than I thought! I really wonder what kind of music he's brought back!"

…

"Good for Mr. Christopher." Lucien chatted with Hank casually when they were close to the third floor, "He's still composing…"

Hank nodded, "Although Mr. Christopher has finished his last concert, his passion for composing never stopped. Using his words—it should be called 'Where there is life, there is music'. After hearing the splendid chorale over the music festival, Mr. Christopher wants to compose a piece of religious music. But you know, among so many religious music works, it's really hard to make your own music outstanding. Right now, Mr. Christopher's kind of stuck."

Before Lucien brought the trend of theme music to the public, religious music played the major role on the stage. Religious music had become the eternal theme of Aalto, after the cardinal, Charlie I, set up the standards of chorale. Lucien believed that the status of religious music would still not be shaken for a long time, and the many classic pieces could hardly be challenged.

"Religious music…" Lucien nodded thoughtfully.

Soon, Lucien and Hank came in front of the door to Victor's office.

"You might want to knock the door yourself, Mr. Evans… to give Mr. Victor a surprise," suggested Hank.

Lucien agreed and knocked at the door gently.

Then, he waited in front of the door. With his sharp listening, Lucien heard that Victor was slowly walking toward the door.

Mr. Victor's manner was still the same, which never changed after he became a director. Most directors would ask behind the door first to see who was visiting, and then decide whether they wanted to open the door.

The door slowly opened. Victor's face also did not change much over the three years—light mustache, black curly hair, blue eyes. A man in his age was neither like a youngster who changed his look all the time, nor a man over fifty who aged very fast.

Victor looked in quite good spirits. The gloom he had before now turned into piece and calm, probably because the completion of Love Symphony had comforted his soul.

Seeing the young man standing in front of him, Victor first looked a bit confused. Then, he scanned the young man from head to toe, as if he was making sure if the young man was real.

After that, Victor reached out his right hand and put it above Lucien's right shoulder. After a slight pause, Victor patted on Lucien's shoulder and said to him in his low, gentle voice, "You're back… Good… You're back."

Although his voice still sounded calm, Lucien could tell his excitement and joy from the hand on his shoulder.

Lucien felt the true emotion from the hand, trembling and grabbing his shoulder a bit hard. When his heart was filled with bitter nostalgia and joy, the melody that Lucien had been working on for a long time became complete.

True music came from true feelings.

Chapter 286: A Fan of Lucien

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

In Victor's office.

After both of them calmed down a bit, they started exchanging what they had seen and experienced during their own trips, including the assorted local conditions and customs throughout the continent, and, of course, all kinds of folk and traditional music. Their warm conversation was full of joy.

"Good, good! You've grown a lot from your trip, Lucien!" Victor nodded approvingly. He could tell that Lucien now had a much better understanding and perception toward different music genres.

Because Victor himself also held concerts throughout the continent, instead of lying that he came back from Holy Heilz Empire or the Kingdom of Syracuse that Lucien in fact had never been to, Lucien told Victor that he travelled from the south central part of the continent to the Storm Strait and then returned the same way he came. Because he appreciated the folk music a lot there in that region, he stayed there for quite a long time.

Hearing his own teacher's praise, Lucien grinned, "I've seen a lot of great, unique music genres during my trip. I'd like to have them to be part of my music."

"This is why I always believe that a musician should leave the place he or she stays in from time to time to see more and to experience more," said Victor, sharing all his thoughts with Lucien. "I can tell that you've been still practicing during the three years. You did not come to me with a solid foundation of music, but now you've filled the gaps."

Three years ago, despite of the fact that Lucien had excellent memory and great body coordination, it was still hard to grasp all the parts of the foundation of music. Although when talking to common musicians and instrumentalists, Lucien was fine, when he talked to master musicians like Mr. Christopher and Victor, he made many mistakes. Fortunately, they were all tolerant people, and they knew that Lucien was still new, so they did not give Lucien a hard time but corrected him in a nice way.

During his spare time in Allyn and the rest of his trip, except for studying arcana and teaching the apprentices, Lucien relaxed himself by playing music.

Most sorcerers had their own interests and hobbies during their spare time. Although being dedicated was one of the major conditions for a sorcerer to be successful, sorcerers needed to find the balance between magic and life. For example, the Hand of Annihilation was an outstanding painter, and also a playboy.

At this time, someone knocked at the door politely.

As the student, Lucien stood up and opened the door.

"Mr. Christopher?" Lucien was surprised.

Although having aged quite a bit, Christopher still shaved his beard well, like how he did three years ago.

Seeing Lucien, Christopher smiled, "Lucien, welcome back."

"Thank you very much, Mr. President." Lucien still called Christopher by the title president, even though the current president was Othello.

Christopher joked, "This old man was waiting for this young fellow to visit him. He has waited for so long that he's decided to come over and find you. I'm very interested in what you've seen during your trip and your new music."

Three years later, Christopher had become more playful.

"I was about to…" Lucien was a bit embarrassed.

"Just kidding." Christopher grinned. "Actually, I'm here to invite you two to attend a small concert held by a young man. He's from the southern Gusta. A tough young man who suffered a lot but is still pursuing his music dream. Finally, he made it to Aalto, and I heard his playing on the street. It was quite interesting. So I invited him to come over to the association and hold a small concert."

"On the street?" Walking to them, Victor asked.

It was quite strange to Victor. If this young man's playing on the street was that impressive, he should have heard his name as well. However, he never did.

Christopher nodded seriously, "He's got no money for renting a venue. He was playing piano and singing on the street. His music style was popular over the music festival, but most musicians in the association looked down upon it, because of their bias. By the way, his name's Franz."

"I see." Victor smiled, "Is it starting now?"

Christopher pointed at the floor above and nodded, "Yes, let's go. There're people waiting for us."

Lucien and Victor each walked on one side of Christopher. When they were heading upstairs, Christopher smiled, "Franz told me that your music has given him a lot of energy and power. Without your music, he said he could not have come this far."

"Uh?" Lucien was quite surprised.

"Franz did not come from a wealthy family. His father was an ordinary man, working in an business association. Although the family did not have the money to send him to study music, he was selected into the church choir because of his beautiful voice, and he also managed to learn some basic vocality and composing skills. Later, he was kicked out of the choir because he refused to be a castrato. He studied music really hard since then." Christopher introduced, "Unfortunately, his music did not win the affection of nobles or the public. After his father passed away, his life got even tougher. He was a worker on the port, a warehouse keeper, a bartender, a bard… Life was hard to the twenty-something young man, both physically and mentally, until he heard your Symphony of Fate and started to make money by sticking to his music style. Now, he's in Aalto."

Victor smiled, "What a tough young man. This kind of story always touches my heart."

"I'm really happy that I can help him," said Lucien sincerely. The story made him a bit less guilty.

…

Soon, they arrived in the hall on the fifth floor.

In the hall, many musicians, instrumentalists and music students had gathered together here out of curiosity. They all wondered what kind of young man could win the appreciation of Mr. Christopher.

Although the hall was almost full, the first row of seats still remained empty. They were saved for the top musicians.

"Mr. President."

"Mr. Victor."

"Mr. Evans."

When they walked in the hall, all the musicians stood up and greeted them. They watched them walking toward the first row.

Soon, the small concert started. Franz, wearing black suit, walked on the stage excitedly. He bowed to the audience many times.

He was about twenty-four of five, with thin face and curly, tangly black hair. His face looked very serious, as if he was praying in the church.

He looked at the famous musicians seating in the front. Franz knew that they were Mr. Christopher and Mr. Victor. But who was the young man?

Soon he realized who this young man was. His hands started trembling and he had to take a few deep breaths to calm himself down. Then, he sat down in front of the piano. A castrato came to the center of the stage.

The melody of the piano piece was like stream flowing. The poetry-like lyrics sung by the castrato were touching.

The structure of the piano piece was complete and full of varieties. The deep emotions in the music combined perfectly with the piano.

The audience in the hall was immersed in the melody. Some were slightly nodding along with the music.

The songs of different styles completely caught the heart of the people present. The hall was quiet. No musicians ever thought that a young man could give bard songs new life and this great sense of elegance.

When the first part of the concert finished, Franz stood on the stage, waiting for the musicians' comments nervously.

This was part of the small concert.

Christopher smiled, "Evans has just come back. Let him say something first."

Franz's hands were held together tight. He was beyond nervous.

Lucien tried to be humble in front of Mr. Christopher, but the president insisted. So, Lucien smiled and said, "The music has led us into a new world by making us forget the common form of ordinary songs."

This was a very high comment, and this comment came from his idol. Franz waved his right hand slightly out of the great joy. There were tears in his eyes.

Lucien continued, "You've greatly explored the possible forms of songs, which is a brand new path in front of us. I have some ideas about developing long verse into songs, and hope we can have a good talk after the concert."

Lucien was inspired by Franz's songs.

"Of course… Thank you so much, Mr. Evans. You might not know this, but I have to say that during the darkest days in my life, when I was about to end my music life, it was your Symphony of Fate that saved me… You might have no idea how shocked and encouraged I was when I heard it…"

Chapter 287: Reunion

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Franz got emotional with his memory, "I labored, in a hard way… I was also staying up all night studying music and composing. Soon, my body became weak, and my mind was bothered. I could not focus. People around me said I was like a walking dead body, and they were all telling me to give up music, although they knew that my music wasn't that bad… I knew it, too. I could not feed my mother and young brothers and sisters with music. I was so overwhelmed by the pressure from life… I was at my limit every single day. I was about to give up my dream, because I could not just live for myself. I still had a family."

Franz sounded as if he was going to cry. Many musicians and students present felt the same way. They knew how tough this path was, and how big was the pressure they were under. They were facing continuous fatigue all the time, waiting for the day that their talent would be revealed.

Of course, they had to admit that the difficulties they were facing was nothing compared to what Franz had experienced. Therefore, they all became more determined that they must work hard and stick to their dream until one day they could stand on the stage like Franz.

In their mind, Franz, after showing his great piano playing skills and receiving Mr. Evans' high comment, had already become a successful musician. The attention Franz was receiving now could compare to the time when Mr. Evans was spoken highly by Mr. Christopher.

Looking at the young man on the stage, Lucien was touched as well. If he had not taken the great risk improving his spiritual power, and hence strengthened his memory, even though he had the spirit library, Lucien would still have great trouble studying music at that time. Without a proper music knowledge foundation, even though Lucien had the great masterpieces in the library, he would not dare present it to the public.

Tears rose in Franz's eyes. Looking at Mr. Evans, Mr. Christopher and Mr. Victor, he added, "When I was about to give up my music dream, I decided to go to a cheap concert as my farewell to the career I love. However, I underestimated my passion toward music. When I was at the concert, when my heart was being seized by the symphonies, sonatas and concerto, I realized that my life meaning depends on music. The great pain covered me, so I was about to leave. But… at that time, I heard the breathtaking opening of Symphony of Fate! The intense rhythm and pace overwhelmed me, just like all the great burdens from my life. But in the symphony, I heard great determination… I heard heroic courage! I heard Mr. Evans asking me—are you gonna give up and yield to life? Is it life that makes you give up music or it is yourself? Are you gonna fight or retreat like a coward? When the symphony ended, I found the answer. After that day, I left my work and became a bard. Honestly speaking, I always looked down upon bards at that time… Every time when I felt having reached my limit, I played Symphony of Fate and Pathétique for myself. Gradually, things started to pick up. I started to be able to support my family, and felt free to pursue my dream."

Franz put his right hand on his chest and bowed to Lucien with great respect, "Without you, sir, without your belief and courage in your music, I could have never gone this far. You're my true mentor, and it's my greatest honor having you here listening to my very first concert in my life. Thank you again, Mr. Evans."

Thunder-like applause echoed in the hall.

"You're the one who made the right decision," said Lucien emotionally.

Then, both Christopher and Victor also gave Franz pretty good comments.

Later, this encouraged young man revealed his unique music style in the symphony part. Although his music was still not mature, the true feelings and the great hope contained in his music were like gentle spring breeze that soothed everyone's heart.

When Lucien was attentively listening to Franz's symphony, three ladies came into the hall: one had red hair and pouty lips; one had green eyes and looked sweet; and the black-haired one looked mature and elegant.

Felicia, Elena and Grace, after hearing the news that Lucien was back, they hurriedly arrived at the hall at the same time.

After seeing the young musician sitting at the first row, they all released a sigh of relief—it was him.

Lucien noticed that his friends had arrived. He turned around and grinned. Then, he put his finger on his lips to let the ladies remain quiet and enjoy the music first.

Felicia, the noble young lady from three years ago, now looked much more mature. Apparently, her trip with Mr. Victor had taught her a lot. Elena's appearance also changed a lot: her slightly tired-looking face and elegant updo made her look sweet and beautiful. Grace was now in a much more relaxed state after the heavy burden on her mind had been removed.

Three years had passed. Although they often saw Lucien's name on newspapers, they still felt a little strange when facing Lucien.

And Lucien felt the same way.

…

After the concert, Lucien made an appointment with Franz the next day to talk about developing music based on long verses. Then, he visited the familiar address—No. 12 Snehva Street—together with Mr. Victor and his friends. Victor was going to have a luncheon to welcome Lucien back in his place.

After Victor left to talk to his steward, Mr. Athy, Felicia and Elena, who had remained silent on their way back, finally talked to him, "Welcome back, Lucien."

It had been a long time, and they had no idea where to start and how they should talk to Lucien.

"Mr. Evans, thank you for the letter." Grace also showed her appreciation.

Lucien smiled and started to talk about some of the interesting experiences he had during the trip. Gradually, they started to get more comfortable.

At this time, a servant opened the room door and a strong, big woman wearing a tight long dress ran in. She directly gave Lucien a big hug and sobbed, "Finally! Finally you're back! I thought you met robbers and wolves…"

After receiving the message from Victor, she hurriedly came over with Joel and Iven.

"Alisa, let go of Evans." Joel smiled, "He's not afraid of those things… And, welcome back."

The noble life did not slow down Joel's aging. Many years of hard work had brought him a few more wrinkles.

"I've been missing all of you all this time," said Lucien emotionally.

Joel said to his son, "Iven, come on… say hello to Lucien."

Iven had changed a lot. To be more specific, he should be the one who changed the most. He had now grown even a bit taller than Lucien. Looking like his elder brother and father, Iven's teenage face started to look handsome and to have beard.

Looking at Lucien, Iven looked rather shy, as if he was facing a stranger. Lowering his head, Iven said to Lucien, "Welcome back."

Three years was a long time to Iven. It was normal that a young teenager would now feel rather shy.

…

After chatting for a while, Lucien started to feel a little exhausted from facing aunt Alisa's effort to try to find him a wife and urging him to have kids, thus he excused himself to go to the washroom.

At this time, Grace followed him, "I've got something to tell you, Mr. Evans." Grace lowered her voice a lot.

"Yes?" Lucien was a bit surprised.

"After I came to Aalto, once there was a clown-looking man secretly asking me about you." Grace came to the point directly.